Friday, August 3, 2012 >>7:41 PM

Did i mention i was recently promoted to ABRSM Practical Grade 7? The transition from Grade 6 to 7 wasn't as easy as i had imagined cause there's a lot of differences in the scales that you are learning. Thirds apart, really?
Just before you start ranting on how long you have been learning piano, while i have only learnt a little more than 2 years and is already at Grade 7, slow down. To say the least, my foundation isn't really that good. It's evident from the way i do my sight reading--it's either i get all the beats right and get all the notes wrong, or i get all the notes right and all the beats wrong. You choose one. Yups, that's how 'good' i am.
However, the piano pieces seem to be easier than i thought. I had looked at the LCM Grade 8 Exam Pieces a couple of years back (don't ask me why i did) and yeah, i got a shock. The notes are so packed together and there's like, 8 pages for each piece? When i looked at my own ABRSM Grade 7 pieces, the notes are simpler (but there are more decorations mehh) and yups, shorter, with only 4 pages. Guess it isn't always true when people say ABRSM is harder than LCM, heh?
Having taken LCM previously and ABRSM currently, allow me to go on more about their differences, especially in scales. So, i have heard many saying that ABRSM is much harder than LCM. Well, sorry to say, not really. That's just my own opinion.
To begin with, i took LCM Grade 5, but in the end i changed halfway and started learning ABRSM Grade 5, taking the ABRSM exam in the end. So to start off, LCM Grade 5 scales are harder than those in ABRSM, really. Firstly, there are staccato scales. Yeps, staccato for EVERYTHING congratulations. There's no such thing as Group 1 and Group 2 and you just have to prepare for one of the groups. You basically have to prepare for everything. However, for ABRSM, you only start playing staccato scales in Grade 7, and yups, like i have mentioned earlier on, you only choose one group. Other than that, ABRSM and LCM are almost alike.
Before you start going on about how i am bias towards LCM, pause and listen (or read in this case). Although LCM songs are longer, i have to admit that ABRSM songs have more...accidentals decorations. That's the tricky part--if you miss a note or something, it will be really really obvious. As for LCM, the difficult part is how you are going to flip the pages amidst your playing. What happen is there are alot of repeats here and there, so you must really know which pages come first. If you flip to the wrong page, you will have to end up stopping and looking for the correct page. As for Aural and Sight Readings, i find that they are kindof alike for both LCM and ABRSM (partially because i always flunk sight readings, so i can't really see the difference in standard if there is any).
Yups, so the post above is just a five cent worth of my thoughts.

Sometimes, when we listen to a pop song, we figure that it's actually telling the love life of a person. Using the same analogy, when I listen to a classical piece, i find that I'm actually 'listening' to the life of a person. You see, classical pieces, especially those in the contemporary period, often have different moods in a song. It probably starts off happy and lively, usually on a major key, but as it proceeds on, it transforms into a minor key, with sharps and crescendos. As a result, i feel that the starting of the piece is just like the childhood of a person--lively, and slowly as he grows up, the sharps and accidentals are the wrong turns or choices he made in life. Afterwhich, it turns back into a major key, and slowly ends off with a rit. (or something of that sort), peacefully--just like how the person's life has come to an end.
Hehs, that was pretty random. Frankly speaking, i prefer pieces with a dreamy nocturne. It just sounds so...soothing.